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International Arbitration Forum

Club Cagliari Calcio S.p.A. v. RNK Split

Case summary

At a glance

Parties
Cagliari Calcio S.p.A. (Italy) v. RNK Split (Croatia)
Case no.
CAS 2021/A/8238
Forum and rules
Court of Arbitration for Sport, appeal procedure under the CAS Code; seat in Switzerland
Treaty
None; FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP), Swiss law applying subsidiarily
Tribunal
András Gurovits (Sole Arbitrator)
Sector
Football transfer; solidarity contribution
Outcome
Appeal upheld (8 September 2022). The FIFA decision was annulled and no solidarity contribution is due.
Amount
The FIFA Single Judge had ordered payment of EUR 33'760 (given as EUR 33'670 elsewhere in the award) plus 5% interest per annum from 2 October 2020. The CAS award sets this aside and awards nothing. The costs paragraphs of the published award are redacted.

The dispute

On 23 July 2019 Cagliari and SSC Napoli signed a transfer agreement for the player M., based on Italian FIGC model documents. The agreement provided for a loan that would become a permanent transfer once a sporting condition was met. The total fee was EUR 13,000,000, with a first instalment of EUR 6,500,000 due at the start of the 2020/2021 season. The player was registered permanently with Cagliari on 1 September 2020. RNK Split, a Croatian training club, then claimed a solidarity contribution through FIFA TMS. It relied on the June 2020 edition of the FIFA RSTP, which extended the solidarity mechanism to national transfers with an international dimension from 1 July 2020. Cagliari argued that, under Article 26(2) RSTP, the edition in force when the contract was signed applied, and that applying the new rule would be retroactive. RNK Split argued that the "disputed facts" were the permanent registration and the instalment falling due, both after 1 July 2020, and that any retroactivity was only "false" retroactivity.

Key holdings

  1. CAS has jurisdiction under Article R47 of the CAS Code and Article 58(1) of the FIFA Statutes. The appeal and the appeal brief were filed in time. ¶¶ 46–55
  2. The FIFA DRC decision in TMS 9596, which Cagliari submitted on 26 April 2022, was not admitted. It came long after the hearing and the close of the evidence, and it contained no reasoning or context. ¶ 64
  3. The FIFA Commentary on Article 26 deals with a different situation: a training club being retroactively deprived of an entitlement. It does not address a club gaining an entitlement through a rule change made after the agreement was signed, and it does not explain how the contract-signing date relates to the 'disputed facts' date. CAS 2014/A/3652, cited in the Commentary, confirms that the date the contract was signed can determine which edition applies. ¶¶ 73–77
  4. Both conditions for the loan to become permanent were met before 1 July 2020: Cagliari won its first point after 1 February 2020 on 23 June 2020, and the player first appeared after that date on 1 March 2020. No further act by the clubs was needed. The registration with FIGC on 1 September 2020 was a formal act only and is not the 'disputed facts' under Article 26(2). The Sole Arbitrator followed FIFA DRC decision TMS 7111 on legal certainty. ¶¶ 79–84
  5. Both the signing of the agreement and the fulfilment of the conditions came before the 2020 RSTP took effect, so the award does not decide how the two criteria in Article 26(2) relate to each other. The 2020 RSTP does not apply. Under the earlier edition no solidarity contribution was due on a national transfer, so the appeal is upheld and the FIFA decision annulled. ¶¶ 85–87; operative part

Procedural history

  1. 23 July 2019Cagliari and SSC Napoli sign the transfer agreement, and Cagliari and the player sign the labour contract.
  2. 1 September 2020The player is registered permanently with Cagliari.
  3. 12 and 29 November 2020RNK Split claims a solidarity contribution through FIFA TMS.
  4. 26 February 2021The FIFA DRC Single Judge orders Cagliari to pay the solidarity contribution. The grounds follow later: the award gives 3 August 2021 in one place and 26 July 2021 in another.
  5. 16 August 2021Cagliari files its Statement of Appeal with CAS.
  6. 30 September 2021The Panel is formed with András Gurovits as Sole Arbitrator. On 29 September 2021 Cagliari had withdrawn its challenge against him.
  7. 20 December 2021Hearing held by video-conference.
  8. 8 September 2022Award: appeal upheld, FIFA decision annulled, no solidarity contribution due.

Tribunal, counsel and experts

Decided by
  • András Gurovits Sole arbitrator, Court of Arbitration for Sport — appointed by the institution (nominated by the Deputy Division President; Cagliari challenged him and then withdrew the challenge)
For the claimant
Alberto Porzio · Paolo Marsilio · Erika Mazzucotelli
For the respondent
Jan Schwele · Thomás Prestes Bosak

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Keywords

Summary generated with AI from the published documents — refer to the award for the authoritative text.

Case ID
CAS 2021/A/8238
Claimant
Club Cagliari Calcio S.p.A.
Respondent
RNK Split
Documents

Procedure: Appeal
Sport: Football
Matter: Transfer
Outcome: Upheld
Panel: Andras Gurovits
Source: Court of Arbitration for Sport case database.